A Great Contest of Suffering
I finished the Church’s daily readings for January 29, 2021 and sat back in my chair, pushing the “Magnificat” away. I sipped my tea. A thought I had been suppressing slithered into my mind: the persecution of Christians was coming to America. Anxiety washed over me. I felt nauseous. Far from comforting me or providing spiritual sustenance for the rigors of the retired life, the Biblical words had triggered a spiritual stroke.
The offending words were nestled in the 10th chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, verses 32-39. The author commends the “Hebrew” Christians for enduring “a great contest of suffering.” They were “publicly exposed to abuse and affliction,” including joining “in the sufferings of those in prison.” The next “contest of suffering” sank me lower. You “joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.” (Note that the author mentions martyrdom elsewhere in his letter.)
So, these Hebrews (Jewish Christians) had joyfully endured through public humiliation, prison, and the loss of possessions,
Somehow, I calmed myself. More likely the Lord calmed me. I reread the section from “Hebrews” and concluded my interpretation was reasonable and fit within the historical context. The Romans had fiercely persecuted Christians in periodic waves from the founding of the Church after the death of Jesus until Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 AD.
But am I making a crazy leap of unfaith and bad logic by suggesting such a persecution could occur in 21st century America? Could America, once a Christian nation, become a persecutor of Christians? Yes. Could we trample on the values of our forefathers? Yes. Freedom of speech? Yes. Freedom of religion? Yes. Suspension of the rule of law? Yes. (The Wise Guy notes that persecution is not unheard of in America, but it has usually been associated with ethnic group or race, not the first amendment.)
A noxious Totalitarian darkness is already drifting across our land, smothering the Christian lights of truth and beauty. The leading edge of this darkness is the Cancel Culture Crowd (CCC). It is following – intentionally or unintentionally – in the footsteps of its great totalitarian forerunner – the Soviets (CCCP). First, they cancel your speech, then your religion. Then they might pause, giving you a chance to repent. If you repent, you can join the Party, or at least be left alone. If you don’t repent, then they cancel your income. If that fails, the last step is to cancel you. You are naïve if you don’t think America could use its considerable engineering and management know-how to develop its own Gulag. Like the Great Leader we also could fashion a strategic famine or two to force survivors into line. We have already proven ourselves adept at enhanced-interrogation techniques.
Now some of you might consider me deluded, an excessive pessimist, a member of the crazy Christian right. Why in God’s name would Americans repress their fellow Americans living under the cross? Because those living under the cross do not accept three CCC dogmas: abortion, the LBGT agenda with its destruction of the family, and the elimination of religious liberty.
Some argue for a live and let-live policy but the CCC has already rejected that. Those living under the cross must accept the ukases of the CCC. The Catholic Wise Guy considers the self-righteousness of those who casually destroy the unborn, attack the family, and undermine the meaning of human sexuality to be devilishly ironic. And downright frightening. History teaches us that no one is capable of greater evil than someone who believes they are doing it for a the greater good.
We Christians must ask ourselves how we will hold up under the coming persecution. I can’t help but wonder what I will do when the CCC shadows reach my house. I admit I am not excited about witnessing for the faith. Prison and martyrdom lack appeal. If my property were confiscated, I would not be joyful. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.
I reflect on the Lord’s words in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:10), which reinforce the thoughts from “Hebrews;”
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” A few verses later our Lord adds, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”So, let us ponder the words of Scripture that describe Christians in “the contest of suffering.” They should be “joyful;” they are “blessed;” and they should “rejoice and be glad” for their “reward will be great in heaven.”
It would take thousands upon thousands of prayers, and hundreds and hundreds of fasting days for me – along with an infusion of the Holy Spirit – to attain the spiritual level described in the Sermon on the Mount.
I live in comfort and am a Christian. These two characteristics have been distinguishing features of my life for years. Soon I may be forced to choose one or the other. Words from Psalm 27 come to mind.
The Lord is my light and my salvation/ whom should I fear?
Lord, help me choose you!